This invention relates to a method of controlling a heating and air conditioning system in a motor vehicle.
There are known methods and systems in which it is possible to make a personalized adjustment of the temperature and fan settings.
For example, BMW vehicles have a function which is known as key memory which makes it possible to make various personalized individual settings. For example, settings for the fan and temperature can be stored on a vehicle key. When the ignition is turned on, the presettings are transferred from the key to the vehicle.
In addition, there are known heating and air conditioning systems in which manual adjustments of the fan setting, air distribution and air temperature can be performed individually for each occupant of the vehicle according to his or her needs by means of actuators. The air distribution is controlled, for example, by varying the vent outlets for the foot space and/or head space, and the air temperature setting can be performed by motor actuators or mixing valves. Such controls and settings are known, for example, from the book “VDI-Berichte 515, Elektronik im Kraftfahrzeug” [Reports of the German Society of Engineers 515, Electronics in the Motor Vehicle] by the VDI Publishing Company.
The object of this invention is to improve upon the known methods of controlling a heating and air conditioning system.
This object is achieved according to this invention by controlling a heating and air conditioning system with actuators, preferably vents, whereby interior conditions are detected by an interior sensing system, in which at least the occupancy of seats with passengers is automatically detected by an object detection system on the basis of the data supplied by the interior sensing system and an optimized adjustment of the heating and air conditioning system to the seat occupancy is performed automatically for all occupants of the vehicle by a control unit as a function of seat occupancy.
The new statutory regulation with regard to airbag systems in the United States (FMVSS208 of NHTSA) creates the need for an interior sensing system for determination of seat occupancy and the position of the passenger's head. For several premium class automobiles, an interior camera system, usually a 3D camera system, is provided for this purpose. It is advantageous to also use this pre-existing camera system to control an audio system. This eliminates any additional cost for the camera system for the manufacturer of the automobile.